


four promises jason mcconnell kept and one he didn’t

by gaypetersimmonds



Category: bare: A Pop Opera - Hartmere/Intrabartolo
Genre: 4 + 1 things, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lesbian Nadia McConnell, M/M, The Double Dates To Shea's Arcade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 17:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13816305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaypetersimmonds/pseuds/gaypetersimmonds
Summary: promise.webster defines promise as a declaration that something will or will not be done.





	four promises jason mcconnell kept and one he didn’t

\---------------

1)

“Nadia!” 8 year old Jason McConnell said, running over to his sister, a grin plastered on his face. “Dad got me my own basketball hoop! Let’s go play!”  
Nadia smiled widely and began to walk outside, when a bright pink-nailed hand clasped her shoulder.  
“Nadia, you have your cello lesson with me, remember?” their mother said.  
“But I wanna play!” Nadia whined.  
“Grown up girls don’t play, Nadia, and aren’t you a big girl?”  
“I am!”  
“So…”  
Nadia looked sadly at her brother.  
“Five minutes?”  
Their mother shot her a warning glare.  
“If she plays for five minutes, she can do five extra minutes of practise, right?” Jason said. “It won’t do any bad.”  
Their mother sighed.  
“I can’t just revolve my schedule around whatever you two fancy.”  
“I promise she’ll be a virtue by the time she’s eleven!” Jason said.  
“Virtuoso.”  
“Same thing!” Jason said, and he and Nadia ran off to play with the basketball hoop, their youthful laughter echoing off of the hallow and empty walls.

\---------------

2)

They were in their seventh week of seventh grade, and Jason was on his first date, with a girl named Ivy Robinson. It was a double date with Nadia, who was going with Jason’s friend Matt.  
They wandered aimlessly through Shea’s arcade, playing video games, having air hockey battles and drinking as much soda as they could afford.  
Jason laughed at all of Matt’s jokes and stayed beside him the whole time - which was fine, because Nadia and Ivy were happy enough together anyway.  
Jason thought girls were nice friends, but he could never see why someone would want to marry a girl and stay with her forever and ever and ever.  
He would much rather stay with his friends and playing video games.  
He and Matt were in their seventh round of air hockey - Matt had won three and Jason had won three, this was the tie breaker - while Nadia was playing a claw machine and Ivy watched on bored.  
“Dude,” Matt whispered to Jason, getting too close for Jason’s liking, “can you let me win? I want to impress I… I mean, Nadia.”  
“Oh, totally,” Jason said. “I promise I’ll go easy on you.”  
“Thanks,” Matt said, smiling a smile that made Jason’s heart do something that Jason didn’t care for at all.  
Jason lost 0-11.  
Matt earned a smile and a hug from Ivy and a disinterested “congrats” from Nadia, which he seemed pretty pleased with, and he smiled that smile again.  
Jason ignored his heart this time and went on to the next game.

\--------------- 

3)

It was a September morning in freshman year when Jason and Peter were the first ones to arrive at art class, and Peter doing anything made Jason’s heart do something that Jason had grown to love.  
Peter was bouncing his leg and tapping his pencil against the desk beside Jason, and Jason pretended not to stare.  
Peter began to hum some song Jason vaguely recognised from some show called Wicked that he pretended to hate because Nadia and the theatre girls liked it, and he wasn’t a girl.  
Jason smiled down at his sketchpad and doodled some words that he knew he would have to burn as soon as he could.  
‘Peter and Jason McConnell’ ‘Jason and Peter Simmonds’ ‘Peter and Jason McConnell-Simmonds’ ‘Jason and Peter-  
“Whatcha doing?” Peter asked as Jason slammed the book shut.  
“Nothing, just… words, you, um, you know?” Jason said far too quickly, his face burning.  
Peter snort-laughed and Jason’s face burned more as he looked determinedly ahead.  
“So, looking forward to class?” Peter asked politely.  
“Um, y… yeah, I guess.”  
“We’re drawing fruit today, I heard,” Peter said, smiling in a strange way, as if he was telling an inside joke he had with himself.  
“Oh?” Jason said, trying not to lose the conversation.  
“Yeah. I’ve always preferred it over vegetables, haven’t you?”  
Jason looked around the empty room, pulling at the cuffs of his shirt.  
“I mean… yeah. Yeah, I have,” he said, feeling as if he had just revealed something deeply personal.  
“Cool,” Peter said, smiling at Jason and looking directly into his eyes.  
Peter’s eyes were brown in a way Jason had only read about in dumb Tumblr posts. Like warmth and home and everything all at once.  
Jason would happily look at those eyes forever.  
Jason felt a mystical force pull him forward, and suddenly Peter’s lips were pressed to his.  
Jason quickly pulled away, so close to stabbing himself in the eye with his pencil.  
“Oh my…” Peter said, touching his lips with his fingertips. “So you…”  
“You, you can’t tell anyone.”  
“No! No! Me, uh, me too!”  
“You… dig guys?” Jason said awkwardly.  
“Yeah,” Peter laughed. “I’m a total guy digger. And, uh… you are the guy I happen to dig.”  
Jason’s eyes widened and he stared at Peter in shock and awe.  
“No way, dude! That’s so cool!” he said. “I mean, uh… I… dig… you…. too.”  
“Oh,” Peter said, his face also bright red. “That’s… sweet.”  
“So, uh…”  
“Yeah… Want to… I don’t know, go out sometime?”  
Jason stared at his sketchpad.  
Holy shit.  
“Uh, yeah. Somewhere private. And nice. I promise.”

\---------------

4)

“Hey,” Jason said, knocking on Nadia’s door on the day of Megan Lloyd’s funeral. “It’s time to go.”  
No response came.  
Jason sighed and opened the door, to reveal a completely dark room with a blanket bundle sitting on the bed, a laptop light illuminated a tear stained face.  
“Hey Nadia,” he said softly, sitting beside her. “Ready to go?”  
“What do you think?” she responded bitterly.  
“Um, we sort of have to go. School event.”  
She sighed and moved the blanket off of her. She was dressed and ready, but she looked in no state to go.  
“Nadia… I know you and Megan were best friends. Shouldn’t you honour her memory by going?”  
“We weren’t friends…” Nadia said, her voice barely above a whisper.  
“Nadia, you hung out every single day. You nearly killed Ivy so you two could be roommates.”  
“I don’t mean that way!” she yelled, making Jason flinch.  
“Sorry,” she said normally. “I… what I mean is… she and I… we… shit, why is this so hard?”  
“Whatever it is, you can tell me, okay?”  
“She was my… girlfriend.”  
Jason felt the wind get knocked out of him.  
“What?” he breathed out.  
“We were dating before she…” Nadia’s voice broke and Jason wrapped her in his arms.  
“It’s okay,” he said, rubbing her back.  
“You, you can’t tell anyone, okay? Mom and Dad would kill me if they knew.”  
Jason nodded, knowing all too well the way Nadia felt.  
“I promise.”

\---------------

\+ 1)

“You’ll won’t die this year, or anything?”  
“Mom, you worry too much.”  
“Jason.”  
“Yes, I promise I won’t die.”


End file.
